


Three's a Crowd

by bansheeinbraids (everyinchofherspine), everyinchofherspine



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Future Fic, Gen, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-02-16 14:40:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2273532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyinchofherspine/pseuds/bansheeinbraids, https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyinchofherspine/pseuds/everyinchofherspine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia discovers she's pregnant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day Zero

**Author's Note:**

> This is a totally shameless fic of my own head canon for Stydia's future. You can find me on tumblr at bansheeinbraids.tumblr.com. I'll post companion graphics to each chapter there.  
> I hope you enjoy :)

Lydia's boots crunch in the Fall leaves as she quickly hurries across the Standford campus, mind whirling frantically.

She had three classes worth of papers to grade for the Math classes she was a TA for, as well at least five hours of research for her mythology in modern times thesis, not to mention translating the rest of a newly unearthed beastairy for Deaton. All of that would have to wait though, as she sped to the nearest bathroom and promptly threw up her lunch.

Her bag thumps dully to the ground as she sits back on her heels and runs through a mental list of all she'd eaten recently. Nothing there likely to give her food poisoning.

Stomach feeling marginally settled, she stands, flushes and moves to wash her hands. She looks abnormally pale in the mirror, eyes practically glowing above deep purple bags. She had been tired lately, maybe the exhaustion and stress had gotten to her and turned her stomach.

After splashing water over herself, Lydia shoulders her heavy bag again and resolves to stop by the school nurse to check there wasn't some bug doing the rounds of campus. She hadn't noticed a large absence of students in any of her classes, but her PhD work meant she was at home or on the library more often than a classroom, so maybe she missed it.

The nurse is busy when she arrives, so she eagerly takes a seat. She rotates her ankle slowly as she surveys her wedges. Her feet were absolutely killing her. These were going in the "only for dates" pile as soon as she got home.

"Next please! Oh, Miss Martin, how are you?" Lydia smiles at Sarah as she follows her into the exam room. Lydia made a habit to meet all of the staff and was particularly fond of Sarah. She reminded her of Scott's mom, and always put her at ease. "I'm feeling a bit crappy, actually, Sarah."

Sarah frowns and grabs her notepad. "Symptoms?"

"Exhaustion, nausea and headaches. Is there a bug doing the rounds maybe?"

Sarah shakes her head, "Not that has come through yet. Besides, you don't have a fever. Blood pressure and heart rate are both fine. How does everything else feel? Any pain or tenderness?"

Lydia considers her limbs systematically. "Only sore feet and some breast tenderness - oh!"

Sarah smiles when she practically sees the lightbulb go off in Lydia's head. "Any chance you could be pregnant, Miss Martin?"

Lydia does some quick mental math and nods. "Possible and probable." She hadn't been on birth control for at least two years, it was probably just a fluke she hadn't gotten pregnant before.

"I have a test, if you'd like," Sarah offers, face carefully neutral until Lydia smiles at her.

"No thanks. I'll grab one and do it at home. That way I can tell Stiles as soon as I know."

Sarah's face lights up when she mentions Stiles. "Oh good, you two are still together. I'm so happy for you both!"

Lydia carefully bends over to grab her bag, suddenly aware of every inch of her body and the positibility something may be growing inside her. "We're not even sure yet, save the congratulations."

As she bids Sarah goodbye and strides towards the parking lot, Lydia realises that she's fairly certain she is indeed pregnant. The signs are all there and she's suddenly frustrated she didn't consider the possibility earlier. Her and Stiles hadn't used condoms since they both moved in together four years ago, and she'd let her script for the contraceptive pill run out a couple years ago. It wasn't that she and Stiles had been actively planning to get pregnant, but they hadn't been not trying.

She shuts off the stereo as soon as she turns the ignition, her thoughts too much of a cacophony for added noise. She tried to imagine how their lives would change if she was pregnant. She'd still be able to finish her PhD while pregnant, even if she would have to drop being a TA once the baby came. She couldn't ask Stiles to take time off work. Even though he was just an officer, Stiles' natural bravery and leadership had made him a star in the local police force. She'd be more worried about him at work if she had a baby at home to take care of, but her banshee abilities always gave her an amount of forewarning if there was a dangerous case coming up.

What if the baby had banshee powers too? Lydia's internal monologue continues as she pulls up at the drug store, selecting a home pregnancy test quickly as she stresses about the cries of a banshee baby and what would happen if it sensed death before it understood how to deal with it. There was only so much Lydia could teach a baby. She barely hears the cashier's attempt at small talk. Maybe the baby would be normal, human, and just as vulnerable as its father. She would have to worry about it every second of the day, especially if it inherited Stiles' clumsiness and ability to find trouble. What if there was something wrong with it? Lydia knew the millions of things that could go wrong during gestation and afterwards. She knew statistics, and the numbers floated endlessly through her head as she finally pulled at home.

She takes a deep breath before opening the door, resolving not to freak out any more until she'd at least peed on the stick. The comforting smell of home hits her when she steps into their apartment; a mix of Stiles' colenge and her perfume swirling together in the sun-warmed room. She drops her bag graceless on the couch before heading to her favorite wall in their entire house, their photo wall. She lingers over the memories, instantly picking out her favorite photos from the mass. A photo of her in the surf, taken on their first vacation away together. Waves had crashed over her the second Stiles' took the picture and she had spluttered helplessly while he laughed at her.

Next was the photo of Sherriff Stilinski and Melissa on their wedding day, a year after the Pack had graduated high school. They had all come home for the ceremony, watching breathlessly as their favorite Pack parents finally started their life together. Lydia remembers tearing up when Scott walked his mother down the aisle and handed her to the Sherriff, hi-fiving Stiles' quickly before taking his place at the front.

Lydia's smile widens as she drifts to the next photo, of Stiles and Scott's sister Cara. The five year old grins out from the frame, windswept hair across her adorable face. They had taken the photo on their last trip to Beacon Hills, Stiles and Lydia kidnapping her for a day and having a picnic in the local park. Stiles had run himself ragged chasing after Cara, the girl giggling hysterically as Lydia snapped photos of the two of them.

The last photo that caught her eye was a shot of the two of them last Halloween, dressed as Eric and Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Lydia was in the middle of a laugh when the photo was taken, a ridiculous looking grin splitting her face. It was one of the least attractive photos of herself and Stiles but it was one of her favorites, reminding her strongly of why she loved him so much: he could always make her laugh.

She forces herself away from the photos and towards the bathroom, clenching the box of the pregnancy test like some sort of stress ball. She had to do it now. She couldn't wait the three hours til Stiles came home. She'd take the test, then cook dinner and when he came home she'd tell him the results over either some congratulating wine (for him, not her) or a bottle just for Lydia if the test was negative.

The box cracks loudly in the silent bathroom as she opens it, quickly reading the instructions and tossing it away. It struck her as somehow hilarious to be going out of her way to pee on something, but she assumed the stress was making her a bit punch drunk. It really wasn't that funny. She sets an alarm on her phone for two minutes, resting the test on the edge of the bath and pacing nervously. She watches the seconds tick down and realises that in one minute and fourteen seconds, her life is going to change completely. What if it's positive but Stiles doesn't want a baby? What if he decides it's too much pressure and leaves? They'd always said they'd wait until their careers were sorted before doing the whole family thing. What if he took on the responsibility and quit his job, leaving him trapped and resentful of her for not keeping her legs closed?

Or what if it's the worst result of all and she's not pregnant, having to go on living like she hadn't had that moment of understanding that her body was so much more than just the cells belonging to her?

Fifteen seconds left. Lydia forces her eyes shut and counts down the seconds, shutting off her buzzer when it sounds, and counting five more seconds for good measure. She opens her eyes.

_Pregnant._

The word wavers as her eyes well up, breath whooshing out of her as she sends a prayer up to whatever deity were watching.

She cries happily in the bathroom for a while, feeling over emotional and frayed, until her nagging worry about Stiles' reaction surges back up.

She grabs her phone and sends him a quick text.

_Making your favourite tonight. Be on time. Love you._

She has exactly two hours and fifty two minutes before Stiles comes home, given he is on time as ordered. She can wait that long.

-

She's just slipping into some heels when the door unlocks, Stiles loudly closing the door behind him. Lydia smiles to herself and smoothes her dress, walking out to meet him. It's rare that Lydia does the whole 50s-housewife thing and has dinner waiting when Stiles walks through the door, especially if she's dolled up at the time. She usually prefers her Standford hoodie and sweats.

The surprise on Stiles'' face shows as he scans her, looking at the delicious meal set before him and his dressed up girlfriend.

"You look beautiful. Have I forgotten an anniversary or something?"

She laughs as she kisses him on the cheek, knowing full well that Stiles remembers the anniversary of the day they met, as well as never forgetting any others.

"You know you haven't. I just wanted to do something nice for you."

He sinks into the chair, eyeing her suspiciously as she pours him a glass of wine. "Are you buttering me up or something?"

Lydia quirks and eyebrow in response and takes the seat next to him, comfortably filling the silence with banter and conversation until their plates are empty.

"That was so good, Lyds." She inclines her head at the compliment and he grabs her hand ontop of the table. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but are you sure there isn't anything you wanted to talk about? You've been kinda quiet all night."

He looks at her with such love and care that Lydia has to physically fight back tears. Her imagined scenarios come back full force as he watches her. She forces herself to stop stressing and remember how she felt when she saw the test.

"Stiles, I'm pregnant."

He promptly chokes on a mouthful of wine, eyes wide and streaming. "What?"

Her fingers grip his tighter unconsciously. "I'm pregnant. I took the test today." Stiles remains silent for too long, and Lydia begins again, babbling. "I'd been feeling sick and tired but assumed it was some bug and then I went to the nurse and then kinda realised it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility so I took the test and it was positive. I know with work and everything it isn't great timing and that we always said that sort of stuff would come after but you know, it happened any way." She trails off in a nervous laugh and looks at him pleadingly.

"Lydia, are you worried that this isn't what I want?"

She nods and stares down at her hands, wound around his and clutching him like a lifeline.

"I don't care about work or your PhD, you're pregnant. That is the best news ever!" He surges forward and kisses her, clumsily meeting her lips when they both grin widely.

Stiles pulls back suddenly, frowning like he's just realised something. "Wait, how do you feel about it? Like, it doesn't really involve me if you aren't, you know, wanting a baby."

Lydia studies him carefully, watching his eye twitch lightly as he fights to keep his face passive. "Stiles. I want the baby. I want a baby with you. This is the happiest I've ever been."

He grabs her hand suddenly, eyes lighting up with an idea. "Lyds, marry me."

She freezes, breath catching in her throat, "W-what?!"

"Marry me. Let's get married." His face is earnest, smile stretching widely.

"No."

His grin falls and he releases her hand. "No?"

"Stiles, why are you asking me to marry you?"

"Because I love you?" he replies, slipping into a question at the sight of her scowl.

"And I love you, but that's not why you're asking. Did you leave work knowing you were going to propose to me?"

"Well, no, but I thought spontaneity would be romantic. Did you want me to try again with a ring and a speech?"

Lydia tries not to smile at his adorably confused frown. "No. Stiles, I have thought about you proposing more often than a self-assured feminist probably should. It doesn't matter how you do it. It's about why. I don't want to get married just because we're pregnant."

His rubs his hands over his face. "I don't get why it's bad that I want to marry you and have a baby with you?"

Lydia kneels carefully in front of him, stealing his hands and holding them to her heart. "Three hours ago I was staring down a pending pregnancy test and worrying about all the different reasons you could find to leave me once you found out about the baby." He opens his mouth to speak but she silences him with a quick kiss. "And now you are proposing to me and I don't want you to be making this decision just because I got knocked up. When we get married, I want to do it because we want to, not because we feel we have to. Do you understand?"

Stiles looks deep into her eyes and Lydia feels the same jolt she felt every time she looked at him since their first kiss. His hands drift slowly to her stomach, reverently stroking over her skin.

"Lyds, can we go to bed?"

Relief washes over as she stands quickly and presses herself to him, kissing him deeply, trying to convey all of her love through the simple press of lips. Stiles stands without breaking the kiss, gripping around her ass and effortlessly lifts her. Her legs wrap around him instantly, silently thrilling at his power. Working in the police force had been awesome for his physique.

They stumble the few steps to the bedroom, Stiles placing her delicately on the sheets as if she were a precious present he couldn't wait to unwrap. And he doesn't wait, sliding the zip of her dress down slowly, the material slipping off her shoulders instantly, exposing her breasts. Stiles pushes her softly to lie back on the bed, inching the fabric over her hips and sliding it carefully over her heels. He carefully releases the straps of her shoes next, taking care to place them safely away with the dress.

Lydia's skin erupts in goosebumps as he watches her, eyes dark and molten. His fingers stroke over the delicate silk of her panties, tugging the last scrap of clothing off her quickly. She holds her breath as he stares at her, only breathing when he leans down to kiss her. His mouth is soft and sweet, drifting from her mouth to suck on the pulsepoint under her ear. He rains delicate kisses over her neck, her breasts, her hipbones. He pauses over her stomach, stroking the still-tight skin. She knows he's doing what she is, trying to imagine the tiny cluster of cells living within her, what it might be like to see her stomach huge and and a baby moving within it.

She tears up when he kisses the curve of her stomach, fingers softly stroking over the ragged scar from a lifetime ago. Every inch of her abdomen falls under his lips, mapped carefully and torturously slowly.

"Stiles. Please. I need you," she whispers, her voice somehow shattering the silence and urging him into action. His clothes are stripped and laid aside quickly, Lydia watching patiently as he strips. He's back quickly, leaning over her. The comforting weight of Stiles hurts her heart in a weird, wonderful way, always safe and home with him.

"I love you," she whispers as she kisses him, repeating it over and over as he positions himself at her entrance, softly sliding deeply into her, the two of them moving together in a practiced motion. He angles himself with ease, her legs coming up to wrap around his waist as she moans deeply. His eyes lock with hers as he slowly thrusts into her, hitting her g-spot with every movement.

Lydia continues to whisper "I love yous" through her moans, fingernails digging into the flesh of his back. Her palms start to tingle, a sure-fire sign that she's about to come. Stiles reads her like a book, quickening his thrusts until she's crying underneath him, body seizing as she comes, world bursting apart and being put together all over again. He follows after her, burying his head into her neck and biting softly as his hips twitch inside her. 

They lay like that for a moment until their heartbeats regulate.

"You know, I'm not surprised we're pregnant when we're so good at having sex."

Stiles laughs and slowly pulls out of her, rolling into his side and curving behind her. "Do I get an A?"

She pulls his arms around and moves his hand to her stomach, where he promptly strokes circles into the smooth skin. "You get an A+. Go to the top of the class."

He hums sleepily behind her, and Lydia can feel the exhaustion and stress from the last few days threaten to pull her under too. She snuggles closer to him and murmurs softly, "Goodnight Stiles." She waits until she hears him snore behind her and whispers even more wuietly, "goodnight baby."

She falls asleep with their hands clasped over her stomach.


	2. Week 6 to 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Domesticity abounds.

"No."

"No? What do you mean 'no'?"

Lydia tosses her hair, fixing Stiles with a glare through the reflection of the mirror, "It's a negative. Indicating that I do not agree with your proposition."

He pinches her ass playfully, shoving her aside to crowd in closer to mirror. "Why not? I really want to be there."

Lydia watches as he lathers up his face in shaving cream, pursing her lips unconsciously. "You can't get the time off."

He speaks carefully as he softly drags the razor across his skin, "I could if I told them I was going to my baby's first sonogram."

Lydia softly takes the razor from him, resuming his work and focusing on the snick and maintaining straight lines. "Honey, we both decided it was too early to tell people, including work. Especially not your work. If was anywhere else I'd say call in sick and come hold my hand." She finishes shaving him, wiping his face with a damp cloth and kissing him softly.

He applies the aftershave she loves, and she dips in to inhale deeply, eyes widening in surprise when the scent turns her stomach. She flees to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her and retching uselessly. Lydia crouches around the bowl until she hears Stiles' knock on the door. She wordlessly let's him in, taking the prepared lemon and ginger tea and sipping it carefully. In the last weeks they had developed a routine. Whenever Lydia was sick, Stiles would immediately switch on the kettle, greeting her with the tea when she was ready. It was the only thing that soothed her stomach some mornings.

Once he hands her the mug, he heads straight to the shower, pulling off his shirt as he goes and sticking his head under the water once it's the right temperature.

Lydia winces as she watch him wash off his aftershave. That was just another thing to add to the list of things she couldn't tolerate with her pregnancy nose.

She carefully pulls herself from the floor, moving to lean on the door-frame and watch him. "I've made you late, I'm so sorry." She tosses him a towel, which he catches easily and begins to dry himself.

"It's not your fault, babe. I'll add that aftershave to the list and it'll be okay. I won't wear it again and we'll be good."

Lydia startles herself by bursting into tears. "Oh for fucks sake." She wipes angrily at her face, hating herself for breaking so easily.

Stiles chuckles lightly and wraps his arms around her, skin damp but warm against her. "Are you okay?"

She nods against him, tears slowly stopping as she wipes her cheek against his chest. "Just hormones making me fragile, I guess. I hate feeling like this. Always sick and stressing. Worrying about 'is this normal' or 'what if something's wrong'. And now I'm going to be late to my appointment and you are definitely late for work."

Stiles pulls her closer to him, reaching over with one hand to snag his phone from the counter, dialling with one hand. "Hey, it's Stilinski. There's been a family emergency, I won't be able to make it today. Tell whoever you get to cover me that I owe them a back to back shift when they need it."

Lydia pulls away when he he hangs up the phone, watching him. She can't even find it within her to be mad at him for getting out of work and annoying his boss. "Thank you. For knowing what I need even when I don't."

He leans down to kiss her, lingering on her soft lips. "It's my job. Now let's go to our appointment."

 

-

 

The gel is cold on her stomach, causing her to instinctively twitch away, despite the sonogram technicians request of "stay still, please, Miss Martin."

Stiles chuckles from beside her and she takes the opportunity to squeeze his hand extra tight until he hisses. Triumphant, Lydia turns her attention back to the soft pressure of the ultrasound wand on her abdomen, pressing and rotating in a just-this-side-of-uncomfortable way. The technicians face is impassive as she watches the screen, finally turning to face them.

"Are you two ready to see your baby?"

Lydia isn't sure if it's her or Stiles who is squeezing their hands painfully, but the pain ebbs the second the technician tilts the monitor towards them, giving them their first glimpse into their new life.

"This dark circle is your uterus, as this light shape here is your baby." The technician points out the shapes clinically before excusing herself and giving them the room.

"Stiles..."

She can feel him nod beside her, understanding her thoughts exactly, even though she hadn't voiced them. Her eyes are glued to monitor, looking at the small white circle like it was the entire world.

A sharp knock on the door announces the reemergence of the technician, brandishing a print out the image. She hands the picture to Stiles, his eyes switching to stare at it instead.

"It looks like everything is healthy and normal here. You'll need to make another OBGYN appointment in the next few weeks but everything should be fine. Congratulations, both of you."

For the first time they were shown their baby, Lydia turns to look at Stiles, smiling widely when she sees that tears are in his eyes too.

 

-

 

As soon as they are home the sonogram is slipped into a free frame to protect it from fingerprints. The photo has not stopped being passed between the two of them since they left the appointment. They are lying on the couch, Lydia tucked against his stomach and staring at the sonogram while some mindless show chatters on the tv.

"It looks so small," she remarks, softly stroking the frame.

Stiles presses a kiss to her hair, "It looks like a little peanut. We made a peanut."

Lydia grins, "At least it's a good nut. I'd be upset if it were an almond."

"I will never understand your irrational hatred of almonds. See, if if were Brazil nuts i'd understand. It's not even a nut."

"You're a nut." Lydia tilts her head backwards to kiss him, humming happily.

"Lyds? Can we tell people yet? I really want to tell Dad and Melissa."

She stiffens instantly, fear spiking through her veins as the statics restart their endless crawl. "You know you shouldn't tell anyone before the second trimester. Too much can happen."

"Since when have we ever listened to rules?"

Lydia doesn't reply, fingers tight around the frame. Stiles' hands come over and force the photo out of her fingers, threading his own throughout hers.

"Lydia, nothing is wrong with the baby. Nothing is going to go wrong. You'd know."

"What, because I'm a banshee? I don't think it works like that, Stiles. I don't think people who aren't born yet count."

He releases get hands and moves to stroke her hair softly, calming her down almost instantly. "I don't mean because of the banshee thing. I think you'd know because you're a mother."

Mother. The word seems to reverberate in her mind. She had been so consumed with worrying and stressing that she hadn't even considered that her being pregnant meant she was going to be a mother. It was almost too much pressure.

She hums thoughtfully, switching to a different tact. "Okay, even if nothing does go wrong, it's not exactly a conversation to have over the phone, is it?" Stiles doesn't reply and she knows she's won the argument. "I want to see the look on our family's face when we tell them. And if we wait until we see them at Thanksgiving, it'll be the second trimester and I'd be comfortable telling them."

She grins when she hears Stiles grumble into her hair, "Why do you always get your way?"

"Because you love me."

 

-

 

The air is cool on her legs as she stands in the kitchen half naked, thankful that the season had changed enough that she was getting some relief from the heat she'd been feeling the last few weeks. Apparently even when tiny, a baby could be a real furnace. She sips her tea carefully, thrilled when the taste doesn't make her feel sick. She'd finally turned a corner in the pregnancy.

The sound of a camera shutter closing alerts her to the fact she's not alone and she turns to glare at Stiles.

"What are you doing?”

He snaps another pic while she looks at him, glare softening slightly because he looks so cute. “I’m taking a photo of my beautiful girlfriend and mother-to-be of my child.”

She sets the tea down on the counter and moves towards him, grabbing his phone and thumbing through the photos. “The mother-to-be of your child has fat thighs and you shouldn’t be taking photos of them.”

She sighs as he wraps his arms around her thickening waist, carefully taking back his phone. "You are more beautiful than ever. Your hair looks like it should be in a shampoo comercial, your skin is glowing, and don't get me started on your boobs." His sentence is punctuated with a soft squeeze of her left breast and Lydia's skin is instantly on fire.

"We don't have time. We have a flight in three hours."

His thumb circles around a pebbled nipple, drawing a moan from her. "We're all packed. We'll have plenty of time."

Lydia gives up on logic rapidly, her hormones happily declaring that sex was very much a go. She steps backward until her ass bumps against the counter, Stiles turning to face her without relinquishing his hold on her waist. In a practiced movement he lifts her, Lydia jumping slightly, until she's seated firmly on the bench. Her thighs spread open of their own accord, sliding smoothly on the cool linoleum.

Stiles' fingers slowly walk along the edges of her knitted thigh-high stockings, teasing along the soft skin.

"We don't have time to tease," Lydia admonishes him, quickly easing off her panties and tossing them aside.

"So needy," he grins, unbuttoning his jeans rapidly.

She draws him in with one hand on the back of his neck, the other down his pants, kissing him hungrily as she pulls him out. "Shut up and fuck me."

He lines himself up quickly, pushing into her until she moans. She still wasn't used to exactly how quickly her hormones could turn her on. It wasn't like Lydia was ordinarily unphased by sex or her sexy boyfriend either.

"Fuck, Lyds, you're so wet," he groans into her neck, softly biting her skin.

Lydia doesn't reply, lacing her fingers behind his neck and legs around his waist. She leans back as far as she can go, angle slightly shifting in a very pleasurable way and sending spikes up her spine. Stiles pulls hard on the skin between his teeth, making her whine.

With a steady rhythm, Stiles easily builds Lydia towards her orgasm, limbs beginning to twitch as she cries out. With a particularly hard thrust, he sends her skyward, keening as she comes. He slows his thrusts again as she slowly comes back to earth, fingernails scraping the back of his neck. Her eyes flutter open softly and she can tell, just by looking at Stiles, that he is close too. His amber eyes seem to spark like fireworks as she clenches her internal muscles around him. His eyes flash and he throws his head back as he comes. She milks him for all he's worth, riding out every pulse with him, her own aftershocks mingling with his.

He falls against her heavily, murmuring nonsense softly into her hair as he comes down.

She tugs lightly at his hair, pulling him off her slowly. “Honey, we don’t have time to cuddle. We have a flight.”

Stiles groans and pushes his head back into her neck, softly mouthing at the overheated skin. “Wanna cuddle. Wanna sleep.”

She laughs even as his kisses zip through her. “How on earth did you convince me to date you again?”

He bites hard, easing the sting with a sweep of his tongue. “Witchcraft.”

“That explains a lot. Now stop giving me a hickey and get up so I can shower.”

Stiles whines and slides out of her, wincing at the stickiness of his cock and her thighs. His hands easily finds her waist again as he delicately boosts her off the bench, Lydia softly finding her feet again.

She quickly hops in the shower, shoving her sweater and stockings in the hamper, to wait until they had returned. The water had barely warmed before Stiles is there, warm and soft behind her, his hands running over her breasts with reverence.

“Stiles,” she groans, “we really don’t have time for a round two. We didn’t even have time for round one.”

He grins against her, gripping her goosebumped skin tightly. “But you want to.”

“You are abusing my hormones right now.” She spins away from him and keeps him at bay with a damp hand. “If you don’t stay in your corner and let me shower in peace, you are not getting any this break.”

Stiles pouts immediately but stops pushing back against her, “But we’re back in Beacon Hills for three days!”

Lydia nods, smirking when he seems to back off, taking her threat as gospel.

 

-

 

“I told you. At least three separate times. But you never listen to me.” Lydia and Stiles step off the plan still squabbling, Lydia upset that they had almost missed their flight and Stiles reminding her constantly that they had not actually missed their flight.

Their fight dies down suddenly when they spot their family, huddled together and waving excitedly as if the pair hadn’t already seen them. They break into a run simultaneously, Cara breaking away from her parents and launching herself at the couple. Stiles catches her easily, swinging the young girl around until she giggles uncontrollably. Lydia presses a kiss to her favourite kinda-sorta-sister-in-law and takes her from Stiles with a practiced arm and he hurries towards the Sheriff and Melissa.

Lydia and Cara hang back slightly as he greets his father and step-mother, hugging them in a way that pulls at Lydia’s heart. It was no secret that Stiles only left home because he wanted to be with Lydia, moving to Stanford without thinking twice about what he was leaving behind. She knew that he had never regretted the decision, but Lydia can’t help but feel guilty when she sees the evidence of how much he misses his family.

Melissa beckons the two of them over with a free arm and she joins them, Cara happily telling Lydia some story as they all hug.

They all break away after some sort of signal, everyone’s eyes misty.

Stiles clears his throat, pretending like he didn’t just almost burst into tears at the sight of his father. “So, umm, Lydia and I nearly missed our flight earlier. They had to hold the plane for us.”

“Stiles!” Lydia flushes instantly, remembering how she had been delayed trying to cover up the marks on her neck and that Stiles had gotten his way and had his second round before they called the cab, his long fingers easily getting her off as she steadied herself on her vanity.

Melissa catches Lydia’s eyes and winks at her before laughing loudly, clutching the arm of her husband and dragging him away from his son, a disgusted but somehow proud look on his face.

Lydia slaps her boyfriend on the arm and reaches for Cara’s hand, who looks up at the two of them innocently and asks, “What’s Momma laughing about?”

Lydia shakes her head and follows the Stilinski’s out of the airport.

 

-

 

Natalie Martin rings the doorbell three times before Lydia extricates herself from a clinging hug with Kira and runs to the door.

“Mom!” She barrels into her mom’s chest, burying her face into her soft hair and breathing in the familiar perfume.

As soon as she pulls away, Natalie gives her the once over and quirks her eyebrow, and instantly, Lydia is sure she knows. In one quick glance she's noticed all the subtle differences and added them together. Lydia smiles slightly at her mom and holds a finger to her lips, gesturing her to come inside.

Natalie is greeted warmly by the Stilinski's, clustered in the kitchen. She instantly makes a beeline for Kira and begins to talk about school, Scott smiling at his girlfriend before going back to help his mom mash potatoes.

Cara winds her way around the family's legs like a cat as they worked seamlessly to prepare the meal. The Stilinski-McCall-Martin clans had been co-hosting family holidays since the kids had moved away to college. The Yukimura's usually joined the rest of the a Pack, but were away currently on a cruise

Between all of them, Thanksgivibg dinner is prepared quickly and soon the table is groaning under the weight of the food.

Conversation flows easily between them all until plates are scraped clean and Scott clears his throat.

"Kira and I have something we'd like to tell you all."

Lydia clutches Stiles' hand under the table as she waits impatiently for Scott to speak again.

He and Kira stand, grinning openly. "We're getting married!"

The table errupts with congratulations and chatter again as Kira and Scott do the rounds of hugging everyone. Cara starts jabbering excitedly to Natalie about weddings.

Stiles waits until the table has settled again before standing up himself. Lydia stays seated, clutching grimly at his hand. Now that the moment had come to tell everyone, she was suddenly unsure. The baby felt so much like her and Stiles' privately secret that she wasn't sure she wanted to let anyone else in.

"Lyds and I are pregnant."

Natalie grins ecstatically at her daughter and Cara pipes up, "Does that mean you are getting married too?"

Everyone looks expectantly at Stiles, who sits down and nods towards Lydia.

She leans forward, smiling at the little girl. "Not yet. Stiles and I want to focus on having a baby first. I'm sure we'll get married eventually." Cara nods, satisfied with the answer and goes back to colouring.

The Sheriff is staring at his son with a frown, and Stiles sulks, "Hey, don't look at me. I asked."

Lydia looks at the faces of her family and sees mingled excitement and disappointment. She sighs. "It's not that it's never going to happen. I just didn't want to make the decision for the wrong reason. And really, I've kinda got my hands full with the whole pregnancy thing anyway."

Melissa clears her throat and stands up from the table, bringing back dessert and effectively halting the conversation.

Lydia grips Stiles' thigh tightly under the table as Kira regails them with the romantic story of how Scott proposed; stringing up fairy lights over trees in the forest, he asked Kira to use her powers and turn them on, the words 'marry me' carefully twisted amongst the lights. They even have visual aids, photos snapped on Kira’s phone that they pass around the table.

Stiles is in the middle of congratulating his best friend when Lydia feels suddenly exhausted and excuses herself.

"I'm so sorry everyone, but I'm suddenly feeling the plane trip. I'm going to head up to bed."

She does the rounds of the table, accepting everyone's goodnights and congratulations, whispering some of her own to Scott and Kira, and flees quickly.

 

-

 

Lydia lies in bed for twenty minutes before Stiles’ joins her, an impressively short time given that Cara hadn’t even gone to bed yet.

She was facing the wall, softly stroking over her small bump when he comes in.

“Are you okay?” He slides in quickly behind her, hand smoothing over her hair and instantly calming her.

“I’m just feeling sad.” She turns towards him and lets him stare into her eyes, pulling out all her secrets like only Stiles had ever been able to do.

“It’s about Scott and Kira, isn’t it?”

She’s not even surprised that he’s picked the current stressor so easily, and nods against his shoulder.

“You’re sad because everyone was so happy for them but they didn’t seem to be as happy about our news once we said we weren’t getting married.”

Her hands resume her stroking, a self-soothing action she’d developed since she’d started to show. His hands join hers, resting softly on the back of hers and letting her move restlessly.

“They are happy. Our family are so happy for us. They were just surprised.”

“Is it that hard to understand?” Lydia mumbles into the pillow. He hums quietly behind her. “All I want is to marry you. To have a baby with you. You know that, right?”

He answers her with a soft kiss and she continues. “I’m so scared of losing everything right when I’ve just got everything that i’ve ever wanted. Stiles, we’re not like Scott and Kira. We fight and we yell and we fuck and nothing has ever been easy for us. I love that about us but it makes this a hundred times harder. I don't want to lose you. And I don't ever want to get divorced."

His arms tighten around her, mumbling into her hair, "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about the fact you are so sure things would go badly."

"I'm not. Maybe there's only a tiny percentage of everything fucking up but it's still too much. I love you and I love our baby and I don't want to be without either of you. Do you understand?"

He presses soft kisses to her forehead and nods. "You love me too much to marry me until you're sure we'll get through this?" She nods and he smiles. "This is never how I thought proposing to you would go."

She shuffles in his arms, getting more comfortable and feeling exhaustion pull at her. "How was it going to go?"

"Well, to start with, I'd actually bought the ring. I'm only three pay checks from being able to afford one, by the way."

She kisses the small patch of his chest that she can reach, "You know I don't care about an expensive ring."

"Part of you does. Don't argue, I know you too well." She grins against his skin, knowing she was too transparent for him. "I would have taken you out on a picnic and asked you while the leaves fall around us. Simple but elegant."

Lydia hums against his chest, imagining the perfect image he had painted. "That sounds perfect."

Stiles smiles and strokes his hands through her hair. "One day." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, you can find me and companion manips over at bansheeinbraids.tumblr.com Thanks to all who have read and left kudos, it means a lot!


	3. Week 12 to 17

Week 12 to 17

 

Lydia wakes to the sound of muffled conversation outside Stiles' bedroom door.

"So how has she been dealing with the pregnancy?" Melissa asks with obvious concern.

"Emotional outbursts notwithstanding? She's been brilliant. I've never seen her like this. She's just aglow in everything she does. She'll come from class exhausted but still find time to sit and talk with me about the baby for hours. And she's so knowledgeable about everything. Sometimes that's a bad thing because she knows everything that can go wrong. But mostly she's really positive about it." Stiles answers with obvious pride in his voice and Lydia beams, turning over slowly on the bed so it doesn't creak.

"Well the second trimester is the best one. It must have been hard for the two of you to get through the first one alone." Another voice pipes up and Lydia realises that both Melissa and her mom felt the need to check up on her.

"Well it was hardest on Lyds. She was sick all the time and could barely keep down food, but she made it through."

Lydia slides off the bed silently and heads to the door, smiling at the three of them. "Stiles neglects to mention that he always held my hair back and kept a careful list of things to avoid. I would have been so much worse without him." She kisses Stiles good morning and slides underneath his arm.

"How are you feeling, honey?" Natalie asks, raising an eyebrow at her daughter, silently asking more about her emotional state than her physical.

Lydia gives her a small nod and smiles at her mother and Melissa. "I feel great."

The moment is interrupted when Cara runs up the stairs. "Daddy says breakfast is ready and we should get some before the ghost eats them." She turns to face Lydia and says, "Did you know we have a ghost?"

Melissa smiles at her daughter and heads down the stairs, Natalie and Stiles following. "One door shut of it's own accord once, and now we have a ghost. Only in Beacon Hills."

Scott and Kira are already at the table when they arrive, and Lydia takes her place next to Kira, smiling at her sheepishly.

"I'm so sorry about last night. I must have ruined your announcement." Lydia silently twists her fingers under the table, a nervous habit stolen from Stiles.

Kira slowly smiles at Lydia and it shines like the sun coming out. "Of course not. Scott and I are so happy for you two. I can't believe you're pregnant!"

"I can't believe you're getting married!" Lydia gushes, pulling Kira into a tight hug.

Breakfast passes in a blur of wedding and pregnancy talk: when was the wedding planned? Spring. Would Lydia be her maid of honor? If Kira didn't mind her maid of honor being 6 months pregnant. Were they going to find out the sex of the baby? No, they want a surprise. Any name ideas? Nothing Star Wars related.

Stiles pouts at that, looking around the table for support and finding only smirks. Lydia places a comforting hand on his knee and squeezes. “I’d told you they’d all be on my side about Luke and Leia.”

The Sheriff chokes on his coffee and Melissa pats his back with one hand while covering her laugh with the other. “Seriously, Stiles?”

 

-

 

Cara gleefully giggles as she throws a handful of leaves at her brothers, who happily throw them back. Scott uses Stiles for a shield and laughs hysterically when the leaves hit Stiles in the face and he grunts. A brief chase breaks out, Stiles sprinting after Scott with Cara laughing riotously and trying to keep up.

Melissa laughs softly next to Lydia, the bench creaking slightly under their weight as she leans forward and snaps a photo of the group.

"I'm so glad there's going to be another one to join our family soon," Melissa remarks, turning to face Lydia and smiling.

Lydia rests a light hand on her stomach, "You know, watching Stiles with Cara is a huge part of how I know he's going to make an amazing father."

Melissa nods in agreement, "And you a great mother."

Lydia resumes watching them and tries to stamp down the niggling fear that she won't take to motherhood as easily as she should. "Are you ever ready to be a mom?"

Melissa turns and takes Lydia's hand within hers, a smile playing on her face. "God, no. We get longer to prepare, to know our baby, and it's still a surprise when they finally come out. And then you get to spend the next lifetime worrying endlessly about whether they are okay or happy. It's never easy, and you're never fully ready. And it’s not even easier the second time round. When I met Cara, I knew that she was meant to be mine and John’s the second I saw her. I didn’t know someone who wasn’t biologically mine could feel so much like a part of me. And now I get to worry about her now too."

Lydia laughs lightly, "That's not filling me with confidence."

"Never ask a Mom for advice if you don't want the truth."

"It's weird to think of myself as a Mom. I'm barely old enough to take care of myself."

Melissa laughs aloud. "With all the things you have all been through, I think a baby will be easy."

"Nogistunes have nothing on my fear of dirty diapers."

Lydia and Melissa's mingled laughs are loud enough to draw the boys over, Cara cantering behind like a horse.

Melissa scoops her daughter into her arms and Cara yawns widely. "Someone's ready for her nap."

Lydia snags Stiles hand as they walk back to the car, leaves crunching under them.

"I think," declares Melissa with a conspiratorial wink to Lydia, "that Cara would like Stiles and Lydia to tell her a story before her nap."

Lydia tightens her grip on Stiles.

 

-

 

Melissa leaves them alone with a bouncing four year old who is suddenly unable to sleep and Lydia considers murdering her for it.

Stiles is no better, chasing his sister around her bedroom roaring at her. He's playing a dragon and her a princess, his arms flapping like wings and Cara delicately prancing away from him.

Lydia fights the urge to join them and grabs Cara delicately, making sure not to lift her in a way that would strain herself. She places Cara into bed and gently lies next to her.

The girl giggles and rolls into Lydia immediately, curling against her like a cat. "Lydy? Can I touch the baby?"

Lydia softly guides Cara’s small hand down to the tiny swell of her stomach. "You can't feel it yet, but our baby's in there. Swimming and sleeping and growing."

Cara leaves her hand there for a moment, growing bored when she can't feel anything. "Did you and Stiles always want a baby?" she asks.

Lydia pauses, thinking. "Well I don't know about Stiles, but I didn't always. There was a time I would have been upset to find out I was going to have a baby."

Stiles and Cara's wide eyes and open jaws match eerily well for siblings who share no genes and Lydia smiles to herself. It was going to be difficult to tell the story in a way a four year old would understand, but she would try.

"Well, I used to be like a princess. The thing they don't really tell you in princess stories is that a princess has one very important job. Be beautiful so you can get a prince."

Cara's face scrunches adorably. "That sounds boring."

Lydia laughs, "It does. But when I was younger, it seemed like the most important thing in the world. I've always been smart, but most people don't think that being smart makes you very beautiful. So I pretended I wasn't. I pretended I was just a beautiful princess. And it worked. I landed a prince."

Cara looks pointedly at Stiles and he raises an eyebrow at Lydia. "No, it wasn't Stiles. It was a prince named Jackson. He was as beautiful as I was, and we ruled our own little kingdom in the high school. It was nice. We probably would have gotten married but I had never planned to have a baby. It would have made me big. And people don't think pregnancy is beautiful. Remember, princesses need to be beautiful."

Her audience is silent for a moment until Cara asks, frowning, "But I don't know Jackson. What happened?"

Lydia hums, considering how to boil werewolves, kanimas and wolfsbane down to its simplest form. "Prince Jackson left the kingdom because he didn't want to fight dragons anymore. I felt like I had failed in my job. What's a princess without a prince?"

She reaches across Cara to hold Stiles' hand. "But then there was Stiles. He had always been there, even when I was busy being princess. But he was waiting for me. Waiting for me to stop being a princess and become a queen."

Stiles smiles sweetly at that, kissing her cheek softly.

"A queen's job isn't to be pretty and wait for someone to love her. Her job is to make the world a better place and to be powerful. Alongside her king, a queen is loved. She has to be smart. And that makes her so much stronger than a princess ever could be."

"And, for the record, kings aren't stupid enough to think that having a baby makes someone less beautiful." Stiles smiles as Cara's yawns.

"Lyds, I think I want to be a queen."

Lydia smiles and kisses the young girl on the forehead. "You already are, my queen."

Stiles tucks in the sleepy child as Lydia extricates herself from the bed.

The soft breathing of Cara follows them as they leave the room.

 

-

 

"So I'm your king, huh?" Stiles smirks as they get ready for bed.

"Well duh. Although I am perfectly capable of ruling without you."

"I don't doubt that for a second. You definitely wear the crown in this relationship."

Lydia laughs and gets into bed, resting her head on his chest. "You can always say no. I'd rather have a debate a day than feel like I'm walking all over you. We're partners."

"I like the sound of that."

She hums happily against his chest, listening to his heart best.

"Lyds? Did you mean what you said earlier? That you never wanted kids?"

His heart beats slightly faster and she leans up to look at him. "In that version of my life, no. I didn't want kids."

"And in this version of life? With me?" His lips twitch minutely, enough to tell Lydia he's actually worried.

"In this version of my life I want everything with you. I always have."

"Are you sure? I mean, i know we didn't plan on getting pregnant..." He trails off when she sits upright and glares at him.

"Stiles. I'm a 21st century feminist with an important career ahead of me. Don't think for a second I would be pregnant if I didn't want to be." She softens slightly, "This pregnancy may be unplanned and sometimes inconvenient but it has never been unwanted."

He nods slightly and she sighs, resting her head back on his chest and smiling when his arms loop around her. "I know this is a huge adjustment for both of us, but it's something I want."

He's silent for a moment and she can practically hear Stiles think.

"I believe you." She sighs in relief and presses a kiss to his skin. "I don't want to leave tomorrow. I didn't realise how much I missed everyone."

Lydia nods against him. "But we have to return to the real world."

 

-

 

Christmas in Stiles and Lydia apartment passed quietly. The pair had barely even decorated with festivity, Lydia too tired after class and Stiles busy picking up every available shift at the police department, “since we’re going to need money for the baby soon”.

Lydia wasn’t sure if it was the lack of holiday spirit, the constant absence of Stiles, or baby hormones, but she finds herself lying on their bed on the 31st December with tears in her eyes.

She wipes the moisture away with frustration, groaning and forcing herself to roll off the bed. Stiles would be home soon and then she’d probably just go to bed instead of waiting to see in the new year. After all, New Years Eve wasn’t much fun when you couldn’t drink, was in a stable relationship and felt fat and ugly. Not that Lydia really wanted to go back to the days of old; getting drunk off her face and making out with strangers. The first year of college had left her with enough hangovers that she didn’t feel the need to get drunk ever again. But the option would be nice.

She studies her reflection in the mirror. She was starting to show, in the middle of her 4th month of pregnancy. The small bump wasn’t pronounced enough yet that people were asking her if she were pregnant, just enough to make her old clothes fit just a little snugly. Still too early to replace her entire wardrobe, Lydia had been making due with her few flowing clothes and attempting to hide her new boobs. Which were possibly the only plus side of her new body. At least she was still kinda sexy, not that she’d been feeling it lately. She purses her lips and counts to herself. It had probably be a week since her and Stiles had fooled around, her horny hormones fleeing quickly and leaving her with constant exhaustion and a lack of libido.

Lydia gives up squinting at herself when she hears Stiles’ key in the door. It was New Years, for fucks sake. If she couldn’t give her a boyfriend a blowjob to bring in the the year, she might as well give up right now.

She throws herself into his arms as soon as he’s through the door, kissing him passionately.

“Wow, okay, what’s up, Lyds?” Stiles laughs when she pulls back for breath and Lydia winces. Obviously she wasn’t the only one who had noticed it’d been a while.

“I’ve been neglecting you too much lately.”

“Well we’ve both had a lot on our plate. I’m not complaining -”

She shuts him up with another kiss, then moves to sink to her knees in front of him. She gasps when the impact jars her knees and spikes through her body. “Ow!”

He pulls her up instantly, “Lyds, you have to be careful. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” He gives a meaningful look to her stomach as she sighs and grabs his hand, leading him to the bedroom.

She pushes him back on to the bed, grabs a pillow to rest on and kneels carefully at the foot of the bed, attacking his pants until they are around his ankles. Stiles tries to protest but she ignores him, hellbent on breaking their drought.

His dick is still flaccid when she draws him out but she's not overly concerned. Lydia Martin has been blowing boys longer than she'd care to admit and by now, she's got it down to a science. She frowns slightly as he resists her patented moves, even the things that usually make Stiles moan.

"Lyds, stop." He pulls her off with a gentle hand under her chin. "I can hear you calculating me."

Lydia frowns, "Well you're not exactly giving me a lot to work with. You can get hard during your father's wedding but not when I'm trying to blow you?"

Stiles blushes lightly. "Well my dick obviously likes things that are romantic. Which this is decidedly not."

Lydia pauses, unsure of whether to yell at him or cry.

He smiles at her and pulls her up onto the bed. "Talk to me. What's going on?"

She closes her eyes, trying to get a bit of distance from her whirling emotions. "We haven't fucked in forever and for some reason it's really getting to me."

"We've gone without sex longer."

"Yeah but what if it's because i'm starting to get big and you're not attracted to me anymore? I'm only going to get bigger and uglier and then we'll have a baby and we won't have time to have sex, even if we want to. It's so stupid!"

"If you honestly think that I don't find you attractive, you are the dumbest genius I know," Stiles remarks, a slight edge to his voice. "You are always beautiful to me and I am never not attracted to you."

Lydia sighs heavily and rolls over to face him. "I know that. I do. It's just stupid hormones. I'm so sorry I'm insane."

He pulls her quickly into his arms, kissing her hair. "I love you. Even if you are sometimes a little crazy." He continues to plant kisses on her hair until he feels her relax in his arms. "Dad called today."

"Hmm?"

"He wanted to wish us a happy new year. And let me know there's an opening at Beacon Hill's PD."

Lydia lifts herself up into an elbow and looks at him. "Did something happen?"

"No, no, just Jones retiring. Nothing supernatural. But the job is mine it I want it."

The bed creaks underneath them as Lydia sits up and stares at Stiles. "You want to move back to Beacon Hills?"

"We'd be with our family. You could still do the same work on your PhD as you were going to do here but we'll be with people who love us, who can support us and the baby. It's an option, that's all."

Lydia's hands find a clump of her hair to fiddle with. "But what about our life here?"

Stiles looks around their tiny one bedroom apartment. "Lyds. Where is the baby going to fit here? This has always been a stepping stone til I got a better job and you finished your PhD. Things have kinda been sped forward though with the baby."

She pauses, unsure of how to make Stiles understand her misgivings. "What happens when this all disappears and we're back to where we started, only we've uprooted our entire life?"

"What do you mean, when this all disappears?"

Lydia bites her lip nervously and slides off the bed, pacing the room. "I don't know! I just don't feel like this is real. This baby. Everything is happening so fast and I just can't shake this feeling that it's all some dream fucking with my mind. All I did the first few months was throw up and now there's nothing to tell me this is real except I'm getting fatter and dumber. I'm breaking down over my inability to get my boyfriend off and constantly waking up in the middle of the night from nightmares of demons and banshees and the fact that this could all be some sort of spell and I don't know how to deal with it."

Stiles is there before she falls, wrapping his arms around her and sinking slowly to the ground with her as she sobs. "Shhh, it's okay. I'm here."

His mumbled reassurances fade into a soothing background noise and Lydia slowly regains her breath, sniffling weakly into Stiles' shirt. "I'm so sorry."

He kisses her softly, lingering on her tear-salty lips. "You don't ever have to apologise for being scared. I'm scared too. Every day. But I wake up, and I look at you, and I look at the picture of Peanut and I know I can get through anything if I have you."

Lydia nods softly, beginning to feel ridiculous at throwing a tantrum like a child when she freezes, hand flying to her stomach.

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

She holds very still for moments, ignoring Stiles in favour for the new feeling in her abdomen. "I feel it," she whispers, "I can feel the baby. Not on the outside. It's like a little fluttering. Like butterflies."

She looks at Stiles, eyes springing new tears and is glad to see the same reverent look on his face that she's sure is on hers. "It's real. Our baby's really in here."

Stiles moves slowly, shuffling forward and holding her again. Lydia leans into him, the fluttering fading and leaving her feeling strangely empty.

"Maybe we should move back home."

Stiles looks at her with unveiled hope in his eyes. "Really? You really want to move back to Beacon Hills? Maybe we should sleep on it."

Lydia grins at him, standing and pulling him up with her. "You know, i'm suddenly feeling very uninterested in sleeping. You up for a challenge?"

Stiles laughs and pushes her back onto the bed, "Let's see."

Soon the fluttering in Lydia’s stomach is replaced by a feeling of a different kind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The shift in this chapter was very difficult for me to write and I had enormous writers block about it. However, I felt it was more realistic to show the pair struggling with their new situation than breezing happily through like usual. 
> 
> There's another time skip in this chapter too and that brings me to a question: how is the timing feeling for you guys? I'm trying to jump from holiday/significant pregnancy milestone to the next one, but I don't want to feel too rushed or too slow. Some tips on pacing would be fabulous. As always, thank you for reading! x


	4. Week 17 to 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N So, I have no excuse for how long it’s been, but just know this story is not abandoned, just went into temporary hiatus. This chapter takes off right after the last one, but we’ll have a big time jump between this one and the next to speed things along.

Stiles’ soft snores are the first thing to infiltrate Lydia’s tired mind when she wakes up. Her head pounds and for a moment, she thinks it’s the product of a New Years rung in with multiple bottles of wine, but it slowly occurs to her that she can’t drink with the baby.

The night before comes back to her and she groans as she remembers attacking Stiles, throwing a hissy fit and breaking down in sobs. It hadn’t been a fabulous night for Lydia Martin. And then she’d felt the baby for the first time and everything made sense again.

Stiles snores on quietly as Lydia takes stock of her emotions. She wasn’t feeling nearly as on edge as she was waking up yesterday morning. Possibly the product of her first orgasm in weeks, but more likely it was the baby. She holds still and tries to feel the flutter again, but there’s nothing. Obviously the baby was a deep sleeper like its father.

She rolls over and softly nudges him. “Stiles.” He doesn’t even twitch. “Stiiiiles.”

Stiles rolls away from her and grunts. “What?”

“We need to talk. We have a lot of decisions to make.”

“Lyds, it’s New Years. I get to sleep in on New Years.”

Lydia looks at the clock behind her, eager to wake him up and plan. “It’s ten. That’s a sleep in.”

He groans again, retreating under the covers. “If I’m not asleep til noon on New Years, it’s not a sleep in.”

“But that’s just it, it’s the New Year. It’s January. Term starts in a couple of weeks and we need to decide now if we’re moving. If we are I need to tell the professors I can’t TA for them this term. And we’ll need to pack up and find a place in Beacon Hills. We need to start talking about it.”

Stiles huffs and cracks open an eye to glare at her. “Lydia. Wake me at noon.” He rolls over and tries to get back to sleep.

Lydia smirks and pulls the cover off him quickly, smiling when he curls into her in return, her slightly elevated pregnancy body temperature keeping him warm.

Okay, time to pull out the big guns. Lydia slides down the bed and lightly grasps his dick, mouthing softly at the head and smirking when he responds instantly, groaning. “Okay, okay, I’m up.”

She pulls off and grins. “Good, now we can play.” She knee-walks up to him, pulling her nightgown over her head and positioning herself over him. Lydia sinks down slowly, adjusting for her new center of gravity. Stiles’ hands find her waist and support her as she sinks down, both of them swearing when he slides into her.

Lydia leans forward to kiss him, muscles contracting at the new angle, then returns to her position and rides him in earnest.

It’s been a while, and she can tell by the slight strain in her thighs that’s she’s lost a bit of muscle tone. Out of practice, it had been a while she had ridden Stiles, and the new weight of the baby was making it hard to adjust.

The grunts of Stiles beneath her let her know she won’t need to worry about straining herself; he’s not going to last long. As always, the knowledge that she can still make him come quickly after all these years does more for her than the stimulation. It’s powerful, she thinks, to know how to make someone come apart and then be able to put them back together.

She feels the quiver in his thighs and speeds up, her hand coming to pinch her own nipple until she’s on the edge with him.

Stiles sits up and clings to her as he comes, biting her neck to keep quiet. Lydia has no such reservations, knowing that their neighbours would all be hungover and still asleep and she lets herself yell as she comes too, slumping over him and pushing him back onto the bed.

She purrs contentedly as his hand cards through her hair, smoothing the sweat tangles easily. “You’re obviously feeling better today,” he muses, quietly catching his breath.

“Waking up with the need to fuck my boyfriend makes me feel like myself, what can I say? Now I’m going to have a shower. Wanna join?”

She carefully peels her sticky body off him and winces. Stiles sighs and grabs the box of Kleenex next to him. “I’m good.”

“You’re so gross!”

He cleans himself up efficiently and curls back into a sleepy ball, “You love me.”

“Only coz you knocked me up.” She soothes the joke with a kiss to his forward and heads to the bathroom to shower.

She grabs the laptop as soon as she’s clean and dry, wrapping her hair in a towel turban to catch any stray drips. Stiles groans when she plonks down next to him, bouncing the bed intentionally. “No snuggles?”

“Nope. Life planning time.” She pulls up various real estate agents in Beacon Hills, mumbling to herself and Stiles. “See, we’re going to need something two bedroom, hopefully close to your parents’, but something that we can afford. Which means that one’s out, and that one only has one bedroom, ooh this one has a hot tub but is waaaay out of our price range…”

Stiles sighs and rolls toward her, “Open up the one bookmarked under ‘car parts’.”

Lydia raises her eyebrow at him, “Car parts?”

“Knew you wouldn’t bother looking there.”

She hums thoughtfully and waits for the page to load. “It’s a house?”

“It’s our house.”

“What?”

“I’ve put a down payment on it already.”

Lydia scrolls through pictures of the beautiful four bedroom house, noting the hardwood floors and bay window, tiny touches she never knew she needed in her house, but she desperately did. “How did you afford this?”

“You mom, Melissa and Dad all came together and bought it for us and I got a loan for the rest. We’ll be paying the mortgage forever but we can afford it and then it’ll be all ours.”

“Stiles.”

Her tone makes Stiles look up, her voice low and dangerous. “Yes?”

“You bought a house. In Beacon Hills. And got a loan. Without asking me.”

“I knew you’d come around on the moving idea and I wanted to surprise you.” His tone is defensive, and suddenly Lydia is certain there’s more to the situation than he was telling her. She stares him down until he baulks, “I just wanted to make a decision.”

The words hit her like a slap, “This is all because I decided we weren’t getting married yet?”

“We all know you wear the pants in the relationship, Lydia. I say lets get married. You say no. Guess what, we don’t get married. And if you had decided not to be pregnant, I wouldn’t have won that argument either. I just wanted to make one decision in our life.”

“So you decided to get back at me? That’s a really attractive quality.” Her voice is hurt and Stiles softens slightly.

“I don’t think that’s the whole reason. Maybe it was subconsciously, but I honestly just wanted to do something nice for us. For our family.”

“This isn’t how families work,” Lydia says, her hands coming to cradle her stomach. “I know I hurt you when I said no, but I thought you understood why.”

His hands hover over hers, wanting to touch but not feeling he was allowed to. “I did. I do. I’m sorry. I made a decision for the wrong reason. But I still think this is right for us.”

Stiles fidgets nervously as he waited for Lydia to reply.

She sighs deeply. “Are we even now? No more bitching about how I wouldn’t marry you or how you bought a house with asking me?”

He goes to launch himself at her but holds himself back, nodding practically. “Yes, it’s all forgotten. Lyds, I’m so sorry.”

She nods and that’s all he needs to surge forward and kiss her, peppering every inch of her face with his lips. She smiles under his attention and fights to get her mouth free. “Stiles, Stiles, stop. Show me the house again.”

He pulls from her reluctantly but moves for the laptop quickly, clicking through the photos with a well-practiced hand. “It’s only five minutes from my parents’ house and fifteen from your mom’s. Work would be really close and look at the garden. The bay window looks right out onto it, so we could plant all we wanted and see it all year round. The second bedroom is adjacent to the master bedroom, which would be ours. It’s got a huge walk in robe and en suite with a deep tub. And then this room, which I thought could be the baby’s, gets the morning sun…” He pauses when he feels Lydia’s hand on his shoulder, lightly squeezing.

“The baby’s fluttering again. I think it likes the future talk.”

Stiles pushes Lydia back lightly until she’s lying on the bed and he rests his head on her stomach, softly stroking the bump and talking to the baby. “You’re going to love Beacon Hills, peanut. It’s where Mommy and Daddy met and fell in love.”

Lydia snorts from underneath him. “It’s also where Mommy and Daddy nearly got killed on a daily basis.”

Stiles laughs. “We’re going to protect you though. Daddy’s a cop and Mommy’s a badass.”

“Don’t swear in front of the baby,” Lydia admonishes, swiping a light slap to the back of his head.

“Sorry, baby. Mommy doesn’t want me to fucking swear. I just wanted you to know she could kick the shit out of any fucker who tried to hurt you.”

“Stiles!” Lydia pushes him off her stomach and he laughs. They lightly wrestle for a minute, laughing hysterically until Lydia pulls away, fighting for breath.

“Lyds? Are we really doing this?” Stiles asks in the silence.

“Yep. Let’s move home. Let’s furnish our amazing new house. Let’s have a baby and a family.”

Lydia doesn’t have the chance to continue, Stiles is kissing the breath out of her.

 

 

“I can’t believe you all ganged up on me,” Lydia whines when she calls her mom days later, after arguing out the specifics with Stiles.

“I can’t believe it took you this long to find out. We organised it when you were down at Thanksgiving. Stiles was supposed to tell you at Christmas.” Natalie’s voice is comforting to her, despite the distance. All the shame and stress from fighting with Stiles melts away at the sound of her mom’s soothing voice.

“Yeah, well, we were both busy. We haven’t had much time for each other recently.”

Natalie tsks across the call, “I hope you two are finding time to be together.”

Lydia laughs at the vague innuendo; she had been more honest with her mom about her sex life than most people ever were with their parents, and her pregnancy certainly indicated her and Stiles were sexually active. “We hadn’t been together for a while, no, but we’ve fixed that.”

Natalie smiles and Lydia can hear it in her voice, “Good. Pregnancy is stressful enough without the two of you having problems.”

Lydia shuffles guiltily and sighs, “Trust me, I know. Blame the hormones or the lack of orgasms but I really didn’t react well to the whole 'I bought us a house’ news…”

Her mom sighs in response, “I was worried about that, but I hoped you two would get through it.”

“You knew I’d freak out and get mad at Stiles?”

“Lydia, I’ve known you longer than anyone else. I think I know how you’re going to react to things. I had hoped you wouldn’t take the surprise badly.”

“But Stiles just wanted to get back at me!” Lydia hated the whine in her voice but it slips out anyway.

Natalie laughs loudly and it evaporates the tension, “Melissa owes me ten bucks!”

“What?!”

“The three of us all took a bet on what would happen when Stiles told you. I said you’d assume Stiles was getting back at you for the proposal, Melissa thought Stiles would put off telling you long enough for you to find out on your own and yell at him for that and John, the eternal optimist, voted everything would be fine and lovely.”

“I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that the three of you think I yell at Stiles often.” Natalie doesn’t reply and Lydia laughs. “Okay, okay, it totally does happen, but he bitches just as often.”

“Lyds, I don’t think you realise that that’s actually a strength. Your dad and I never had small fights and debates. We just let everything build up until it became too much to ever fix.” Natalie’s voice becomes sad and Lydia aches to hug her mom. “But you two will never have that problem. You two are going to be so strong and amazing parents because you will debate every decision and come to conclusions both of you can live with. Can you live with the house?”

“Are you kidding me? Have you seen the house?”

Natalie pauses for a minute and Lydia swears she can hear her raise her eyebrows, “Of course. I don’t exactly throw money at houses I haven’t assessed. It’s perfect. When are you two coming to see it?”

Lydia strides across the room and moves to watch Stiles pack their books into a cardboard box. “Stiles has work until the weekend so we’ll come down then with a couple of boxes. We won’t properly move in for a bit since we still need to fix up some stuff here but you’ll see us Saturday. Why don’t we come over for brunch and then we’ll go see it together?”

“That sounds fantastic. Kira told me she wants to look at dresses too so we’ll make a girls weekend of it all.”

“That sounds great, mom, I can’t wait. I’m sorry, but I have to go, Stiles is just chucking books in instead of alphabetising them. I swear he does this on purpose.”

Lydia hangs up on the sound of her mom laughing and goes to tell off her boyfriend.

 

 

“Is it just me or does the sun seem to be shining especially bright today?” Stiles wonders, parking the car.

“I think it’s the power of the house.”

Lydia eagerly hops out the second the car stops, moving around the vehicle until she gets her first view of their new house. Her hand comes to her stomach unconsciously as she scans across the facade of the house. It’s beautiful and she can imagine a life there already. Stiles’ hand slips into hers and she squeezes.

“I take back everything mean I said. I see why you had to buy the house.”

Stiles releases her hand and comes behind her to hold her. “I knew you’d think that when you saw it.”

They hear the sound of a car behind them and turn as one to face the Stilinski’s and Natalie as they bundle out of the car. Cara runs straight up the drive to her brother, who picks her up easily and swings her around.

Natalie comes and links arms with Lydia. “How about we go check at the new house?”

They tour through the big house with Cara running ahead of them, opening every single door she can find. The sound of small running feet on the hardwood floor thrills Lydia in a strange way and she jogs slightly to catch up with the young girl.

“I want to show you the room where the baby will sleep,” Lydia grabs Cara and leads her upstairs, to the room her and Stiles had decided on. It’s even more beautiful in person than in photos and Lydia can’t stop a small gasp when she looks at it properly. The wide window looked over the drive and street, and she smiles at the Sheriff passing the boxes of meticulously organised books to his wife.

Lydis suddenly has a brilliant flash of her pacing in front of this window, jiggling her baby and watching for Stiles to pull into the garage. The vision was so clear that it takes another flutter in her stomach to shift it.

Taking Cara by the hand and pushing open the window, Lydia leans out the window and yells to the Stilinski’s, “I’m never leaving this house!” Cara laughs loudly and claps her hands, running downstairs to her parents.

Lydia is absent-mindedly stroking the swell of her stomach when she hears footsteps coming up the stairs. She moves to turn around and check who it is, but the scent of Stiles’ aftershave alerts her that it’s him. His arms easily slide around her thickening waist, draping over her stomach and linking with her fingers.

“Marry me?” he asks softly.

Lydia smiles as he presses a kiss to the exposed patch of skin on her shoulder. “No. Not yet.” She can feel him smile slightly where he is pressed against her skin, chin coming up to rest on her shoulder, whispering in her ear, “Not yet?”

She turns in his arms, pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. “When we get engaged, we’ll know it’s right. It’ll be the perfect time. And it will happen naturally and be amazing.”

Stiles grins at her. “So we’re definitely getting married then?”

“All I want in this world, Stiles Stilinski, is a life with you, and this baby.”

His answering smile is as bright as the sun beaming in behind them.


End file.
